


Ill-Advised Behavior

by seatbeltdrivein



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-03
Updated: 2011-01-03
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seatbeltdrivein/pseuds/seatbeltdrivein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Takes place shortly after Ed gets his automail] Winry discovers that Ed is a terrible patient. Ed discovers that Winry can hit *really* hard. Written for fma_fic_contest's prompt 93: cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ill-Advised Behavior

Ed's nose was bright red, and he kept scrunching it like that might ease the pain or stop the flow of snot. Sniffing loudly, he wrapped the quilt around himself tighter and gave Winry a baleful look. "You didn't tell me this would happen," he said.

"You're the scientist," she shot back. "It's common sense, Ed! I don't know what you were thinking, rolling around in the snow like that. Especially with how new your automail is!"

"Al—"

"Ed," Winry cut him off, her voice a parody of patience, "Al can't feel the cold, remember?"

Ed mumbled something she couldn't hear. Winry crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"Never mind," he said. He could be so difficult sometimes that it made her just want to beat him upside the head with the nearest tool. Winry glanced at the wrench she'd used for Ed's maintenance earlier, but she shook her head, pushing the thought away and leaving the tool sitting on the guestroom dresser. No, he was already ill. If she hit him, he'd end up stupid, too, and that would be _way_ too much trouble.

"You have to stay inside and keep warm," she instructed. "If you get any worse, Granny will have to remove your automail temporarily, and then you'll have to go through the whole thing _again._ " She felt a little guilty for exaggerating when she saw the panicked look on his face, but if a little white lie kept him still and in bed long enough to get better, she didn't mind.

"Fine," Ed said, sulking. Winry rolled her eyes and turned to leave the room, but Ed called out to her. "Hey, Win?"

"Yeah?" She stopped in the doorway, looking back at him.

"Can you bring me a book?" he asked, hesitant. Winry snorted.

"Alchemy freak. Yeah, sure."

Everything went downhill from there. Ed, realizing she pitied him, suddenly started utilizing his current position as invalid. One book became two, followed quickly by an order for food, which turned into a request for something hot to drink (that wasn't milk). He seemed determined to run Winry ragged, and she knew it. She just couldn't bring herself do anything about it.

He just looked so _cute_ , all red-faced and wrapped up in blankets.

Still, it didn't take long for the charm to wear off. "Hey, Winry!" Ed called from the guest room. Winry inhaled deeply, setting the automail piece she'd been adjusting down on the table before standing.

"Yes, Edward?" she answered through clenched teeth. Al was in the room when she got there, both of them sitting on the bed with the deck of cards she brought twenty minutes before all spread out between them.

Ed grinned when she walked in, and her heart did a weird fluttery thing. "Winry," he said, sounding so pleased to see her that she decided to forgive him for being a pain in her rear. "I dropped one of the cards. Mind getting it for me?"

The fluttering stopped rather abruptly. Winry stared at him for a moment, incredulous, before every last ounce of irritation she'd been fighting off for the afternoon caught up to her. She grabbed the wrench she'd left in the room earlier and smacked him with it, screaming, "Pick up your own cards, idiot! Next time you catch a cold, you can take care of yourself!"

When she stormed out of the room, Ed and Al, still cowering, traded anxious looks. "I sure hope she doesn't make that a habit," Ed muttered, rubbing the aching place on his shoulder where she'd hit him.

Al stared at his brother and shook his head. Suddenly, he wasn't so upset about not having a body.


End file.
